Google Faces Finnish Backlash After Clearing 400,000 Trees for Data Centers

What I don’t know about Finland would fill a small library. As a fan of Formula One, I know that many Finnish surnames have multiple k’s — Mika Hakkinen, and Kimi Raikkonen, for example, not to mention World Rally driver Tommi Makkinen. In the world of motorsports, some like to say, “To finish first, you must first be Finnish.”

It’s also a great place to view the northern lights, and it tends to be cold there. Those low temperatures have attracted data center developers, because keeping warehouses full of computers cool is much easier to do when it is near freezing outside instead of broiling hot.

That is one reason why Google is planning to spend $13 billion building two new data centers in Finland. Things are not going well for Google, however. It started out with the slogan “Don’t be evil,” but has transitioned to being one of the largest invaders of personal space, as it helps governments around the world keep track of  citizens who dare to think thoughts not sanctioned by official policy.

According to The Guardian, the company sparked outrage in Finland after it chopped down about 250,000 trees to make way for its data center in the town of Muhos on the border with Sweden. Then it was revealed it felled another 150,000 trees at another site in Otanmäki, which is located in the southern part of the country. Recently, the Finnish Licensing and Supervision Authority (LVV) ordered Google to stop work on both projects because it failed to complete the necessary environmental impact assessments before clearing the land.

Last week, Antti Järvinen, Google’s manager for operations in Finland, apologized for obliterating nearly 400,000 trees without permission, but claimed the company had acted “on the best understanding we had of the legislation at the time.” In other words, he played the Steve Martin card.

In The National Interest

The furor over the trees has forced Finland to take a closer look at its permitting laws and procedures. To be fair, it’s economy is not as robust as some of its European neighbors, and the government had been working diligently to cut expenditures wherever possible. It has also been encouraging foreign investment.

When Google announced last month it was prepared to invest $13 billion in the country, prime minister Petteri Orpo said attracting investment was a “top priority” and “the value of the data economy extends far beyond direct investment”. He said the Google deal would “deliver lasting benefits for both parties.”

That’s what political leaders always say, but they seldom talk about the infrastructure costs associated with such economic opportunities. The people putting up the money expect airports, roads, schools, hospitals, and emergency services to be built by the local community, but they never offer to pay for those things, so the costs fall on the shoulders of local residents.

Jussi Kangasharju, head of computer science at the University of Helsinki, said that while data centers brought a limited number of jobs, potentially boosting the local economy, the benefits on a national level were minimal. “Really, for Finland,there are no benefits. They are international companies serving international customers. Very little corporate taxes go to Finland. Data centers ultimately have very little benefit for others except the operator.”

145 Data Centers Planned

In all, Finland is expected to become the home for more than 145 data centers. Many of its citizens want to know why their country’s renewable energy resources are being used to power the dreams of international businesses. More than 93,000 people have signed a petition demanding more data center regulations and a fee to compensate local communities for environmental damage. Prime Minister Orpo calls what happened in Muhos as a “cold shower”.

Hanna Halmeenpää, chair of Finnish Association for Nature Conservation (SLI) board, said about Google’s bad behavior, “At first I couldn’t believe it. I have never heard that any company has done anything like this in Finland.” She said the system depended a lot on trust, which she believes Google took advantage of. “They bought the vast land area and they just started to cut it, just like that. It’s pure arrogance and it’s amazing.”

Vesa Hyyryläinen, chair of the local SLI chapter, told The Guardian, “All of us nature conservationists are very worried about our Finnish political situation and politics. I wonder why we have to sacrifice so much of our nature. They give everything away too easily. Young people go to Helsinki, and Berlin, and Paris. There are so few people. We have to sacrifice,” he said.

In fact, since the trees were eradicated, the forest animals who lived there have moved to nearby cities, which has made both them and the residents unhappy. There were lots of wolves living in the forest who have now taken up residence in local communities.

We tend to forget that forests and oceans are home to a wide variety of flora and fauna, and that when we degrade them, there are consequences that affect us all. Foreign investments come with a cost, and all that lovely money is cold comfort if your children have to negotiate with wolves on their way to school.

Anni Ranta lives in Otanmäki, a former mining village known for its rare earth elements. She worries about something else. Finland’s neighbor to the east is Russia. Ranta fears a data center in her town could be a target for Russian drone attacks one day. “I don’t want (Google) here. I don’t want them in Finland at all. I don’t like the whole idea of AI, and the world changing, and the way it’s changing. It’s going too fast, too soon.”